Royal Prerogative: Legacy of the Yondaime
by JiigarGhen
Summary: Naruto, a jinchuuriki. What would happen if, at a young age, he was forced by circumstance to accept a hive of kikaichuu, the special insects the Aburame clan use? How would the Shiki Fuuin itself react? AU, divergence beginning early on. No pairings yet.
1. The Queen's Will

Hivemind, rewritten, remastered, and hopefully better.

Alrighty. It's been an ungodly long time since I updated this. This is the rewritten version I was thinking about, but decided against doing. At least, until now.

This will be less cracky than the earlier version…I think. It will still have humour, but…we'll see how much.

Second author's note: this has been edited slightly for reading improvement as well as clarification of certain points. Major plot points have not change as of this update.

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Prologue - The Queen's Will

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oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto ran. He ran as he had never run before, his mind lost though his steps were confident. They had to be. Behind him, chittering and scurrying over the uneven surface, flooded a dark tide of insectoid creatures, near invisible in the lightless gloom. The blond eight-year old had yelled his throat hoarse while running away, but no one had come. That was really his own fault, though.

"Maybe…ditching my ANBU…wasn't such…a good idea…" Naruto gasped, as the strange creatures surged after him. He could see the light of the crevice he'd entered the catacombs through, but with the...things…right behind him, he wasn't sure if he could reach it and squeeze through in time.

Even as the first beams of sunlight touched the fleeing boy, one of the pursuing creatures let out a piercing shriek and lunged at the back of his legs. With a nasty squelching noise, it slammed mandibles first into the back of his calf.

"Aagh!" Naruto yelled in pain, reached down, and yanked out the insect, hissing in pain as the thing came free along with a chunk of flesh. Hurling it back at the others, he limped towards the light once more, striving with everything he had. The insect hit the side of the tunnel with a crack, and the whole swarm stopped for a moment at their injured fellow before washing over him in a wave. Hundreds of tiny daggers stabbed into him, burning with something that slowed the world around him. He kept dragging himself towards the light, thinking that everything would be alright if he reached it. Slipping on the hard carapace of one of the larger insects, he smacked his head against the hard stone before slipping into blessed unconsciousness.

-------

Ten minutes earlier, outside the crevice, two ANBU looked at one another over the small scrap of orange cloth that had torn off on the edges of the opening. Taking a close look at the hole, which was large enough to admit a small child with a bit of a squeeze, the taller of the ANBU looked at his partner.

"…Do you know any Doton jutsu?"

"No. You?"

"Nope. Figures."

"Well, excuse me for being a fire specialist. Not everyone can be like Sharingan Kakashi."

The taller of the two ANBU sighed.

"I guess we'd better go find one of the Aburame, since this is their property. And next time, the kid gets a leash. Damn brat is _far _too good at getting into places he shouldn't."

-------

He awoke in darkness and pain, head spinning and vision blurred. Something that felt like a feather was tickling the inside of his head, but when he stirred, it turned into a voice of disjoined and jarring echoes, wispy and difficult to understand:

_*destroyer*_ _*threat*_

"W…what? I did what? I can't hear you very well, my head hurts…"

*_danger* *you will be food*_

"Hey, wait! I didn't mean to do any of that, I was just-aaaah!"

A burning sensation on his stomach, as hard, moving things landed on him. A lance of white-hot pain stabbed into him, a roar of rage echoed in the back of his mind, and the wispy voice gave a squeal of agony. Naruto passed out again.

--------------

"_What the? What the hell happened here?_ _I'm glad we went to the Aburame first._"

"_Indeed, you should be. There are dead kikaichuu everywhere, but it appears they managed to implant a queen into the child. The queen and his body will begin to destroy one another if we do not hurry." _

"_He is still alive then? How interesting."_

"_If we wish to keep him that way, I shall have to bind it to him."_

---------------

He awoke in a hospital bed, a numb feeling all over his body. Against the wall, in a rickety looking chair, the Hokage sat, nursing an unlit pipe.

"Feeling better, Naruto?" the older man asked quietly, his eyes full of relief at seeing Naruto awake and functioning.

"Jiji?" Naruto croaked, his throat dry and scratchy feeling. "What happened?"

Sarutobi's eyes clouded over for a second, and he gave a small sigh before answering.

"You avoided your ANBU long enough to get yourself injured. They found you out cold in the catacombs under the Aburame's compound. Which, by the way, is private for a reason, Naruto. You should be glad that the ANBU who had you under their care for the day saw you squeezing into that hole and immediately went for the Aburame. Otherwise, you might not have simply gotten off with…"

He frowned and fell silent.

"With what, jiji?" Naruto prompted.

Sighing again, the Hokage continued. "You were surrounded by dead insects, of a type we call the kikaichuu. It looked like one of the queens had planned to use you for food, to start a colony…"

Naruto blanched, gulping visibly. "They…they tried to eat me?"

"Yes…Aburame-san here-" the Hokage gestured to a man standing in the corner of the room "-saved you by binding the queen to you."

"Wha...binding? What do you mean?" Naruto asked, completely lost.

The man stirred, pushing up his dark glasses slightly; He stood much taller than the Hokage, with a high-collared jacket, obviously a ninja from the way he carried slid into the conversation smoothly, his deep, calm voice easily heard even though he was speaking quietly.

"Do you mind, Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi made a dismissive gesture. "By all means, Aburame-san, go ahead and explain it to the boy. You likely know much more than I do about it anyways."

The man nodded and bowed slightly, and turned to Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto. I am Shibi. How much do you know of my clan, the Aburame?"

Naruto blinked, nonplussed.

"Uh…not much. You…use bugs, right? Kinda like Kiba uses his dog?"

"Hmm. It is somewhat like that, yes. Unlike the Inuzuka's dogs, our…partners, for lack of a better word, live both within our bodies as well as in special sea-."

"Wait…inside? You mean, you've got BUGS inside you!?" Naruto openly gaped, prompting a wince at his manners from the Hokage. The Aburame merely sighed and continued speaking, ignoring the interruption.

"Yes, we do. And…you do as well now." A grim expression crossed the man's face, unnoticed by Naruto.

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"_Something is wrong with the binding, his own seal is doing something strange to ours…"_

"_It can no longer be stopped, Shibi. If we do not link the queen to him, she will devour his internal organs for nourishment, rather than relying on his chakra."_

"_True. That would certainly displease the Hokage…Wait... Look, his seal is __**absorbing**__ the binding seal! Fascinating…it appears to be creating an amalgam of the two."_

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"Huh? What do you mean? I'd think I'd know if I had bugs…in…"

The boy's face paled at the expressions on the two older men's faces, a strange feeling going through his body and mind, as if there was something…different inside of him. A sensation akin to what he had felt in the caves tickled in the back of his consciousness, as if something was attempting to whisper into his mind. Naruto shuddered and shook off the feeling, ignoring it for the moment.

"Wait, did something happen while I was down in the caves? Jiji, what's going on?"

The Hokage let out a heavy breath. This was not going very well at all. It looked as if Naruto would require some prodding to recall what had occurred.

"Naruto…what do you remember? Of what happened in the tunnels, I mean."

The blonde shook his head, swallowing nervously before he replied.

"I…I don't know, all I remember was this voice in my head…she was saying something about my killing her children…it felt like my stomach was burning, and then there was this roar, and the voice sounded like it was hurting. That's it…"

The Hokage frowned. _A roar? The Kyuubi? Had it responded to a threat on its host?_

Shaking his head, he motioned the Aburame to continue the explanation.

"All right, Uzumaki-san. This is what happened down there. You stumbled across a…renegade colony of our special insects, the kikaichuu; a colony that escaped when the Kyuubi attacked the village. We have been allowing its existence to continue, as a fully functioning but unbonded hive of kikaichuu is rare in the extreme. In fact, this past year, we have…"

Shibi cut himself off as a glaze began appearing in the boy's eyes and continued as if nothing had changed.

"We are not sure what exactly happened, as the kikaichuu are normally not hostile to humans; something you did agitated them and the hive queen attempted to implant one of her daughter queens into you. Something happened, though, and when we finally found you, the only kikaichuu still alive was the one implanted into you. We had to bind her to you using our family seals, ones usually used upon birth to bind a kikaichuu queen to us. There were…complications in the sealing, and we're still not totally sure of what will happen."

"So…what's going to happen to me, then?" Naruto asked, fear evident in his voice. "Don't tell me I have to leave the Academy…"

Sarutobi shook his head, a relieved smile crossing his face. _Heh._ _Naruto can't have been that badly affected, if he's worrying about not becoming a ninja…_

"No, Naruto. You won't have to leave the Academy, it's just we're not sure how this will affect your chakra. Kikaichuu often have a lasting change on their bearer's chakra control and amount, and because Shibi-san here had to seal the queen into you on such short notice…"

His voice trailed off, and he frowned.

"You'll be out of the hospital later today, Naruto, so just take it easy until then, alright?"

The boy smiled weakly back at the old man, before falling back onto the pillows with a sigh.

"Okay, jiji…I'll just…sleep some more, I guess…"

The Hokage finally gave a full smile, standing up and motioning the Aburame to follow him.

"That's good, Naruto. Get some rest; I'll come back when they release you, alright?"

He left the room quietly, followed by the silent Aburame.

* * *

The two ninja began walking through the quiet halls of the hospital, the Hokage deep in thought. Shibi was silent for a time, but he spoke up as they made their way down to the first floor.

"Hokage-sama…did the others already brief you on what happened?"

Sarutobi grimaced, a pained expression crossing his face.

"Yes…you say the Shiki Fuuin actually _**absorbed**_ this binding seal?"

"Indeed. I don't know how, but it somehow incorporated the kikaichuu binding framework into its own matrix."

"And what do you think that means, Shibi?"

The Aburame shrugged. "Honestly, sir? I have no idea. I consider myself to be moderately skilled with fuuinjutsu, but this Shiki Fuuin of the Yondaime's is so far beyond my abilities that I am entirely unable to even see what it will end up doing to the binding seal."

"Give me your best guess, then, will you?"

Frowning, Shibi thought for a few seconds before answering. "Even at a guess, it is impossible to say for sure. Some of those seal lines looked almost like a second kind of storage seal, besides those that usually store the excess kikaichuu in our seals; though I have no knowledge of just what they would be storing. Also, the seal looks like it will be nourishing them with…that chakra. So his kikai will be…different. I cannot say just how different, but…"

He shrugged once more. Eloquently.

"Damn…" Sarutobi mumbled. "Minato…what did you do that day?"

"Hokage-sama?"

"No matter, Shibi-san. Tell me, will you at least help the boy learn how to reach his queen? I won't order you to teach him any clan secrets, but…I ask you to help him as much as you can."

Shibi took a deep breath before he answered.

"In a sense, the clan will likely be more interested than angry over the loss of the hive, as it has simply change location…but he still destroyed a valuable asset of our clan. We can help him a bit, Hokage-sama. However, he will have to _**earn**_ more than that…"

"I understand. All I ask is that you help him in any way you are able."

"Hai, Hokage-sama. Perhaps…my son Shino, he may profit from teaching the Uzumaki boy the basics."

Sarutobi nodded, smiling thankfully. "Thank you, Shibi. It really does mean a lot to me."

Nodding politely, they parted ways as they passed through the doors of the hospital, Shibi heading for his home and Sarutobi for the Hokage's tower. The old man mused to himself as he strolled back to his paperwork, worry for Naruto predominant in his thoughts.

"_So…a surprise in your seal, eh, Minato? I wonder how this will end up changing the boy's life…"_

* * *

~_Prologue 1 finis_~


	2. Eyes of Night and Flame

A.N. (added 1/07/10)- On the suggestion of the person who is assisting me with edits, this seems to be a decent place for a bit of info on kikaichuu and the Aburame in general; the insects themselves are not human. Never were, and never will be. They see the world through thousands of eyes, feel through hundreds of thousands of appendages…you get the picture. To steal a quote from the Bible, their name is destruction, and they are many.

Their relationship is one of symbiosis with the Aburame, as well as learning. They rely on the Aburame for protection and chakra, and they provide protection for their host in return. They are intelligent in their own way, but it is not the same as human intelligence. The queens, however…they are something else entirely. They have their own goals and desires, the main one of which is the imperative of all kikai: Protect your own. Protect the hive. At any cost. Like many other hive insects in reality, the kikai individually will sacrifice their lives for the hive and the host. It's not a matter of wanting to or not wanting to; it is simply what they do.

As for Naruto's…well, his are a bit different. Not too much so right now…but the Kyuubi's chakra added into the mix with the kikaichuu's natural selective evolution is going to make for some wild insects later on.

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Chapter 1 – Eyes of Night and Flame

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oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

_-void-_

_ -void-_

_ -not-void?-_

_ -pain!-_

_ -flame-_

_-flame-source-_

_ -burning-_

_ -desire-_

_ -rebirth-_

_ -sweetness-_

_-UNITY-_

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto awoke, gasping for breath, traces of a glistening darkness filled with eyes fleeing away from his mind, like the last scraps of a cobweb blown away by the wind. He lurched his way out of bed, staggering towards his small fridge in search of something to calm his queasiness, when a rustle of clothing caught his attention. He turned around and proceeded to nearly leap right out of his skin when he found Aburame Shibi staring down at him, expression hidden behind his trademark dark glasses and high collar.

"_Shit!_" Naruto yelped in surprise as he stumbled and fell with a thud onto his ass.

"You scared the living crap out of me, uh… Aburame-san, isn't it? You talked to me about the bugs…and what the heck are you doing in my room anyways?"

Shibi blinked, his nearly opaque glasses creating a disturbing oscillation of his eyes as he did so. "You have…a colorful vocabulary for a person of your age."

Naruto shrugged nonchalantly, having heard this spiel many times before. "Yeah, well, you're in my room, Aburame-san. That's pretty creepy. Wanna tell me why?"

"First…may I take a seat? This is a better conversation to have when we may face each other directly…"

Naruto made a small gesture towards the old couch nearby; Shibi walked calmly over to it, sitting down with utmost grace as if it were the most ostentatious cushion in the palace of the daimyo, rather than a broken springed couch that slowly swallowed him in its velvety red embrace.

"I enjoy old couches such as this…on to business, Naruto-san. I am here by order of the Hokage, as you know, but also because I my own vested interest in you. Formal introductions are thus in order. I am Aburame Shibi, of the clan's direct line, son of Shira."

Shibi inclined his head slightly, then waited for Naruto to respond.

"Well, uh…I'm Uzumaki Naruto, son of no one. Pleased to meet you." He made an awkward bow that showed his unease at this and the rarity of someone doing it.

"Likewise. We have never spoken before I met you in the hospital, but I am certain you have seen my son in classes."

Naruto nodded slowly; "Yeah, he looks a lot like you, but, uh…why are you here?"

"In some ways, you remind me of my son. Not so much in others….regardless. My purpose today is to make you an offer on behalf of the Aburame clan. You currently hold, shall we say, a clan asset. A piece of our property, if you will. I speak of the kikaichuu queen and her children already developing within your body. If you would agree, the clan has offered to purchase them from you."

At this, Naruto turned as pale as new-fallen snow, leapt from his chair, and backed against the wall, hands held wardingly in front of him.

"Uh-uh, no way! You're not getting me to sell you guys anything from inside my body! It's in me, now it's mine, period!"

Shibi's expression became even more blank, if such a thing was possible.

"Really…? Not even if the clan were to offer you exclusive training?"

The boy gulped hard at the mention of training, but he set himself even closer against the wall.

"N-no, not even for that…"

It was plain to see that it took a great deal for him to refuse, however. The tension held for a few scant seconds, but it shattered completely when Shibi actually burst into hearty laughter. Only for a moment, but the utter inconsistency with his solemn appearance confused Naruto enough to lower his guard somewhat.

"I knew it as soon as I walked in. I told them that you would refuse. This is an excellent decision you have made, Naruto-san, and it shows much promise. Though you have no inkling of why you refused, do you?"

Naruto's only response to Shibi's questioning look was a grunt and a slight raising of the boy's arms again, as if Naruto was about willing to fight or run.

"If you do not wish to tell me- or can't- that is just fine. On the other hand, if you wish to learn more about what you know carry within you, come to our clan's home. Tomorrow, at sunrise."

Standing with a single movement, Shibi bowed to Naruto slightly, who belatedly returned the gesture, confusion rampant across his face.

"Till tomorrow, Naruto-san. If I have disturbed your rest, I apologize."

With a small whoosh of imploding air, Shibi vanished, leaving Naruto confounded and alone in the shadows of dawning light with his scattered thoughts. The boy fell back asleep with difficulty, his mind plagued with strange, wordless images and sounds of something completely unfamiliar. Of a roaring flame, pain…loss and newness.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Full daylight came a few hours later, the sun's rays washing the room in gold, illuminating the motes of dust as they drifted downward into Naruto's hair. A particularly large dust-bunny, snatched by a breeze from beneath the couch, wafted on the wind until it landed directly below Naruto's nose. The puffy object fluttered momentarily as Naruto breathed out, then was sucked into the cavern of his mouth. An hard cough blasted out the offending dust, now a disgusting blob, and shocked Naruto into a dazed wakefulness.

"Wha-?! W-what time is it? Aaa, I told Aburame-san I'd meet him and his clan today!"

Leaping awkwardly out of bed, Naruto dashed over to his closet and seized the first article of clothing that he laid hands on…

"Wait a sec, this isn't my jacket…" He hefted the long brown trenchcoat with both arms, mumbling to himself. "What's in this thing, anyways, it feels like it's made of bricks…"

A cough from behind him pulled his attention away from the coat, and he turned to see a lavender haired young woman glaring sleepily at him with her arms crossed over her chest, wearing only a brief pair of shorts.

"What're you…" she paused momentarily to yawn hugely and stretch, seemingly uncaring that she flashed him in the process, "doin' in my apartment, kid?"

"Your apartment!?" Naruto exclaimed indignantly. "Are you crazy or something lady? I live here, it's my place!" He waved at their surroundings to emphasize the point. The woman blinked blearily and glanced around, taking in the small furniture (kid-sized, in fact, except for the couch), frog themed décor, and the slightly open fridge and pantries filled with milk, instant ramen, and chocolate.

"Whoops…?"

Shrugging sheepishly, she grabbed her coat from Naruto and strolled out the door, stealing one of the chocolate bars from on the table with nary another word.

"Hey!" Muttering to himself, Naruto threw on his favorite jumpsuit and dashed out the door, shutting and locking it behind him. "Shit…I need a better lock. And another bar of the dark chocolate with nuts, that was my last one she took."

He ran out onto the street and whirled away towards the area of town generally known as 'The Market', where he knew the Aburame owned a row of shops fronting their clan home. He had never been there, but he had heard that they sold some of the rarest and highest quality goods in the whole town; in fact, that very rumor had led him to scrupulously avoid them. He'd never been able to afford things like that, and most proprietors of stores of that caliber viewed him with an extremely jaundiced eye, if not outright dislike. He figured it would be all right this time, though. After all, he had been invited.

Flicking his eyes up to the horizon, Naruto cursed vehemently when he saw that the sun was already burning through the morning mist and well on its way across the sky. He careened around a corner, barely avoiding the large woman holding an extremely large cat, dodged around the grumpy looking chuunin, and just barely registered a dark haired girl dragging her laughing mother by the hand before he collided into her headfirst.

"No, Mama, it's this way – ouch!"

With a thump, both children toppled onto the ground, rubbing sore heads and glaring at one another.

"Why don't you watch where you're going, stupid!" The girl snapped at Naruto, glaring at him with near to obsidian eyes. Naruto bristled, opening his mouth with a sharp retort prepared, but the girl's mother intervened.

"That is enough, child! Now apologize for your bad manners, it wasn't either of your faults. I'm sure he didn't mean to run into you…did you?" This last was directed at Naruto, who immediately shook his head. The girl's face darkened, but she muttered a muffled and half-hearted apology.

"M' sorry. Let's go, Mama…" She tugged on her mother's sleeve, but the woman looked preoccupied with Naruto. "Hmm…you look familiar. Ah, must be someone else. Where are you off to in such a hurry, young man?"

Naruto frowned. "Well, uh…I was asked to be at the Aburame clan's house at sunrise, so I'm already late…" The girl gave a very unladylike snort at this, earning a reproving glance from her mother. The woman smiled at Naruto, and continued in a gentle voice.

"Well, we were going to one of the shops the Aburame run anyway. Would you like us to help you find it? You don't seem to know this area very well."

Naruto scratched his head sheepishly at the questioning look the woman gave him. "Well, uhh…no, no I don't." It seemed odd to him that a random woman, especially one whose daughter he had just smacked into, would want to help him, but it was an odd day. "I guess if you really want to help, okay…"

The woman smiled and began walking down one of the many streets in the area with her daughter, beckoning Naruto to follow. He shrugged to himself, and strolled after the two.

After a couple minutes of walking with the pair in silence, the woman turned to him. "Ah, here we are. The entrance to the clan home is just over there; this is the store where we're going. Have a good day, young man!" She waved cheerfully and motioned her sullen daughter into the store; as she was going in, though, the girl turned around and made a face at Naruto, sticking her tongue out at him and distorting her face horribly with her hands.

"Hey!" Before he could do anything about it, the girl darted into the store after her mother. Naruto debated following them to take vengeance upon the girl with his dreaded noogie, but decided against it. It would probably get him kicked out. He walked grumpily towards the entrance the woman had pointed, and rounded the corner to a strange sight. Shibi was sitting in front of a large gate on a stone bench, a serene expression on his face; the Aburame's hand was alive with iridescent beetles, swarming over his hand as he turned it in the sunlight. The insects all stopped and retreated back into his voluminous robes, save for an absolutely huge one on the back of his hand. Shibi held the beetle up and whispered something to it, whereupon the insect flared upon a beautiful set of transparent wings and flew off, straight towards Naruto. He backpedaled awkwardly, but failed to avoid the beetle as it landed with a small thump right on his shoulder. The boy craned his neck to try and see the bug as it crawled slowly around, watching in fascination as the viridian wing shields opened and closed with a rhythmic thrum.

Shibi stood, nodding to Naruto. "Ah, Naruto. You're a bit late, but that's understandable. Welcome to my clan's home. Come with me, please."

The Aburame threw open the gates, made a strange sort of chirrup, and held out his hand. The kikai on Naruto thrummed into the air and flew back to its original perch, gripping tightly as Shibi turned and entered the gates, striding fast and smoothly. Naruto trotted after the Aburame, entering a small courtyard devoid of anything save a gigantic black cat lazily sunning itself in the center. Naruto stopped and gave the cat a look, which it returned languidly, showing slight interest in him.

"This way, Naruto," Shibi called the boy over to the other side of the courtyard, pointing to a set of large sliding doors. "The elders are waiting for you in there. I'll be right behind you."

Naruto entered the doors with trepidation, which was only magnified as he realized it was far darker inside the small room than outside. He squinted, trying to get his eyes adjusted to the dim light, and he just managed to make out seven seated figures before one of them moved and spoke. A slim woman of indeterminate age stirred at the center of the table, inclining her head slightly as a host to a guest. "Greetings to you, Uzumaki-san. We are the Aburame clan elders. Our business today with you is extremely important, so we will forego the usual formalities. We wish to ask some questions of you, and you may also ask questions of us. We will answer what we can."

"All right…" Naruto sat on the cushion the woman indicated, fidgeting slightly. "So…um. What is all this seriousness about?"

"Was it not explained to you?" A thin man to the woman's left, holding a feather pen frowned and scribbled something on a sheet of paper.

"Well…kind of. I mean, Aburame-san over there-" -he indicated Shibi- "told me a little about what happened, but it's a little confusing. What is it about these bugs that are worth so much, anyways? Aburame-san said you were willing to give me almost anything if I would part with them…"

The thin man raised a nearly invisible eyebrow. "Are you willing?"

"Nope. Not happening. No way."

"Hmm…" the man wrote something on his paper again. "Shibi, could you tell Uzumaki-san why exactly the kikai are worth so much to us?"

"Certainly…" Shibi sat down at the table and began slowly. "Naruto-san…what it comes down to is that the kikai are exclusively used by Aburame. Not from any hoarding of them, though the fact is we are the only ones with access, but because they simply refuse to partner with most other ninja. In fact, ninja outside the clan are generally disturbed by the requirements to become a kikaichuu user. So, it's a rare event- never happened before, in fact- for someone to not only come across a rogue hive, survive with a queen implanted, and then proceed to also survive the binding process."

"A ninja getting attacked by a rogue hive has occurred once or twice, and one of those ninja managed to escape…" The woman cut in, seeing Naruto's expression of confusion. "…but when we tried to bond the queen to him, they both died almost immediately."

"All right…so I survived something no one ever has before. What does that mean?"

An awkward silence pervaded the room. Naruto looked around at the other occupants, confusion quickly returning.

"What? Why did you all go quiet?"

The thin Aburame coughed and hmmphed. "Ah, we'll come back to that one later, Uzumaki-san. Please, if you would, tell us anything you can remember about the encounter with the rogue hive."

"All right…" Naruto shrugged and began to think. "Let me see…I don't really remember what happened very well…is that all right?" A flash of embarrassment crossed his face.

"That's fine. What you remember."

"Well…I don't remember much…"

_-meeting-_

"I was crawling through the tunnels, and I hit a real narrow section. I was dragging myself through it when I heard this nasty cracking noise and the ground fell out from under me."

_-impact-_

"I fell…a long way, I think. I landed real hard, on something that squished under me. I couldn't breathe for a second."

He now had the room's full attention, though lost in his reverie, he seemed not to notice.

"I started trying to move, even though it hurt. I noticed there was this gross wet stuff under me…crushed when I fell, I guess. And other things, too…roundish. They felt almost like rock covered in moss, except they were squishy and rubbery. Only one of them was left whole, though…"

_-extinguished-_

_-shades-_

"And then…" Naruto paused, his breathing growing harsher and more irregular. "I heard it."

"Heard what?" the woman asked, though she could already guess.

"The…skittering. It was everywhere around me. So I ran. I didn't know where I was running, I just knew I had to get out of there fast. I ran and ran and ran…and I saw the light from the surface. It almost blinded me, it was so bright…but one of them got me. It hit me in the back of the leg, and then I fell. I think I hit my head on a rock."

He rubbed the side of his head absentmindedly and continued. "When I woke up, I think I was back in the first cave, the one I fell into. I dunno…as soon as I woke up, it felt like something shot into the inside of my head. I heard it…like scraping on a chalkboard." The boy shuddered. "It felt like something mad, angry. The voice hurt. It burned in my head. Told me…it was going to use me for food." Naruto paled alarmingly at the memory. "It took the one round thing that was left, and put it on my stomach."

The elders exchanged glances, and then motioned for Naruto to keep speaking. He took a deep breath, exhaling slowly, and forged on. "It did something that hurt me. It burned, and it felt like the round thing got red-hot. I think I screamed…but I don't really remember anything after that, except…flames. And a roar."

The woman who had started the questioning whispered something to the thin man at this. He frowned and scribbled something quickly onto his paper, then looked up. "Are you certain that's everything you remember, Uzumaki-san? Nothing else until you woke up in the hospital?

The boy frowned, struggling to recall. Something else had happened…or he thought it had. "Uh…yeah, I think I remember something else. Just a feeling of calm, but not from me. It felt like it was still me in my head, but there was something else that was calm there too…I don't really know what it was, though."

Silence fell as Naruto's voice trailed off, and he looked at the elders. The woman sighed and spoke, breaking the quiet of the room again. "So…he has definitely bonded then. What shall we do?"

A middle-aged man, who up until now had been quiet, stood up and said in a flat voice: "Yes, _he_ is bonded, but what of the other-"

He stopped abruptly at a motion from the thin man, his voice catching as he abruptly stopped talking and seated himself once more.

"That has nothing to do with this. All there is to say is that he bears a queen. There is no more or less to it."

The elders turned to each other, and began speaking amongst themselves in low tones, leaving Naruto sitting there in utter confusion. He was about to interrupt when a hoarse cough cracked like a whip over the proceedings, and an ancient man at the very darkest corner of the room stood forward. "If I may?" Not waiting for an answer, he walked towards the long table, a thin cane tapping the ground in front of him. The old man turned to face Naruto, leaning on his cane with one hand.

"Come here, boy. Let me look at you." Naruto stood hesitantly, and began walking towards the man, but screeched to a halt when the ancient removed his dark glasses. Naruto gasped involuntarily, earning a crooked grin from the elder. "Strange, isn't it, boy? Now come here."

Naruto obeyed, unable to take his eyes off the old man's eyes…or rather, where the old man's eyes had once been. They were not merely sightless, but wrecked and ruined. The eyes themselves were gone, and the hollow, sunken sockets that remained stared emptily at the boy. Something about this man, and not just his eyes, frightened Naruto, despite his old and frail appearance. "Hmm…" the old man circled Naruto, gazing at him with his vacant sockets. The boy tried unsuccessfully to restrain a shiver, and the old man barked in hoarse laughter. "Relax, child. I'm not going to hurt you. Hm. Shibi." Shibi cocked his head questioningly at the old man.

"Take a look at his eyes…you certainly have the feel, boy. Too bad you had to destroy that nest to get yourself a queen...you'll do after all."

With that, the old man strolled nonchalantly out of the room, replacing his glasses with one hand as he tapped the ground with the cane in the other. The elders all looked at one another and shrugged. They looked at Shibi, who sighed and escorted a confused and protesting Naruto out of the room, leaving it behind for the sunny courtyard. The two continued towards the gates once more, but Naruto planted his feet stubbornly and stopped.

"Look, Aburame-san…I'm really grateful for you all being so nice, and for telling me a bit more about what's going on, but…what the hell was that all about?! Who was that weird old man?"

Shibi glanced at him. "Nice…? I suppose that our actions could be considered nice in some small manner. I cannot tell you what that was about exactly. As for your second question, that…was my grandfather. "

"Yes, but what does it mean when he said I had-" Shibi held up a hand to forestall Naruto, sighing slightly. "This is a complicated situation, Naruto-san. You hold a queen, bonded and sealed. Thus, you are Aburame. But…you are not Aburame."

Naruto's eyes widened, and he stuttered his next words as he attempted to rush them all out at once. "H-huh? W-wait, so…does that mean I'm part of your clan now or something? I mean…" He regained control of his speech relatively quickly, but his voice faded in volume and his posture drooped, making his loneliness evident. Shibi sighed again.

"Naruto, Grandfather has said his piece. You…you are welcome in my home, Naruto. No matter how distant you would be, you are now family; kikaichuu binds us all."

"…the bugs? That's the whole reason?"

Shibi shrugged. "Indeed. No more, no less. Now…you wished to learn more about the kikai, yes? Please return tomorrow, we shall begin your lessons then."

Though confusion was still present on his face, Naruto nodded, bowed slowly and headed for his home. Shibi groaned, mumbling to himself.

"What on earth have you gotten me into, Minato? Can my clan can handle _him_ even as some sort of very distant cousin…"

The tall Aburame strolled back into the compound, pensive and somewhat troubled. As he might have expected, Naruto was immediately open to the idea of having some sort of family, albeit one he wasn't exactly related to…to Shibi, however, family was everything. And that meant enough to accept even this overly enthusiastic and loud outsider. Though it was with some reluctance.

"Trouble ahead…" Shibi said aloud to no one in particular; he almost jumped out of his skin in shock when his grandfather's voice came from directly behind him. "Yes, young Shibi. Great troubles. And this young boy will be essential for the survival of the clan and the village."

Shibi raised his eyebrows, somewhat skeptical. "Grandfather? Even with _it_ in him, I can't see him…"

"Bah. That makes no difference at all, you know that. They have told me they think he'll be a good addition to the clan later. Don't ask me why, I don't claim to know how they know. They are quite interested in his potential. But it's going to be your job to get him ready. I'll be waiting as well, and he must learn, Shibi. He might be our salvation, or our utter ruin. But, he has got to learn to connect with the hives, or he will quickly become a smaller issue."

Shibi frowned. "What are you trying to say, Grandfather? And should we truly train him? It was an accident that he gained the hives, and…"

The old man laughed grimly, and began to walk away, his cane tapping on the stones.

"Nine in one is better than nine alone…but nine in many would be disastrous. It will awaken more fully soon enough. I have spoken with the Hokage about it."

The younger Aburame tensed, shock breaking through his customary expression. "So, even death cannot put it to sleep forever?"

Shaking his head, the old man continued walking away. "No…that may be up to the boy. Good day, grandson. You have a lot of work ahead of you." Shibi's gaze followed his blind grandfather as he walked into the depths of the building, cane tapping an offbeat rhythm as he hummed tunelessly to himself. Shibi shook his head and went home. There would be time enough for this later…he wanted to tell his family the news.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

In the depths of a cage, a flame of wrath stirred. Not yet weakened enough to move…but something had changed. Confused, the flame reached out to the cage with an extrusion of itself…and roared in pain. It had felt a part of itself - nearly infinitesimal, but still - be devoured. The prison had…eaten it, somehow. The flame retreated back into the darkness to ponder. That had actually hurt. Not a physical pain, burned away easily with will and power. Something more, a deeper and more lasting pain. It slept once more, rest disturbed by the changes in its prison and the niggling pain, but still waiting. Waiting for its time.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Naruto staggered to a stop on his way back to his apartment, biting his lip to keep from crying out. Something inside him felt like it was on fire, searing his gut with unbearable agony. It remained for one seemingly endless moment, then subsided. In its place, blissful warmth spread through his entire body, washing away the fatigue he had felt since this morning.

"Whoa…hey, I feel _great_! What was that, I wonder…"

He shrugged absently to himself, continuing on his way. Completely unaware of what his little spasm had provoked. Two of the ANBU watching him immediately sped off, one to the Hokage to notify him of this strange event, the other to one of the medical ninja assigned to Naruto's case. "This is definitely not good," the one heading to the medical center mumbled to himself. "The kid's chakra is fluctuating like crazy…"

Just a little ways behind Naruto, a young man hurried off in the other direction, with an air of someone on a mission. Sunlight glinted off a small pair of glasses and a thin smile as he disappeared around a corner. Naruto saw none of this, however. He went about his business, whistling a carefree tune. As the sun slowly ascended higher into the sky, Naruto began to ponder the last few days. Things had begun to look up…he hoped it could stay that way for at least a while. Maybe…maybe he would talk to Jiji about it later. Right at this moment, he felt great and it was an amazing day. He wouldn't worry too much about what might happen.

"After all…" he said to himself, "It hasn't happened yet, huh?" His grin was soon interrupted by a disturbing thought, however.

"…shit! I haven't pranked anyone in…uh…_days_! I'd better pick up the slack. Uzumaki's back in action, Konoha!" He yelled happily and dashed off back to his apartment. There was a lot of planning to be done…best to get started.

For no apparent reason, merchants all over Konoha felt an icy chill running up their spines.

-------------------

Chapter 1, finis.

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	3. First Blood, Red Moon

Chapter Two – First Blood, Red Moon

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Aburame Shino carefully examined the tiny tree before him on the table. Noticing a slight irregularity in the plant that might develop into health issues later, he lifted his hand adjacent to the sickly branch. A very small beetle trundled its way out of his sleeve and down onto the tree; meandering slowly over to the branch, it stopped with jaws poised at the base, waiting for some sort of signal. Shino cocked his head to one side, studying the branch closely. Clipping a branch was not something one did lightly, even if it was sickly. But, this one seemed like it would be relatively simple to remove. It was in a position where it would likely not have as much of an effect on the overall appearance of the tree. He nodded slightly to the beetle, which seemed to shiver as if in anticipation for a single moment before bringing its formidable, if small, mandibles together with a click.

Snip. The branch, and therefore the problem, had now been excised. Shino released a 'hmph' of satisfaction as he lifted the tree carefully to the windowsill, setting it down in the sunlight with the utmost care. He held his hand out absently to the beetle; chittering happily, it returned to him, still bearing its trophy. It stilled on his hand as it caught a flicker of its master's will; the boy gazed quietly at his kikai, focusing on nothing else. His breathing slowed as he contemplated the hives he held, and through the single insect on his hand, he touched the minds of them all. A low hum, felt rather than heard, filled the room as the host and hosted communed silently.

Shibi stood at the door to the room, watching his son with an unreadable expression. He stepped quietly forward and laid a hand on Shino's shoulder; the startle boy nearly jumped in surprise, but calmed immediately when he saw that it was his father. For a moment, father and son stood there in that small room, both contemplating the tree now set on the windowsill. Just as quickly as the moment was there, however, it passed. Shibi said quietly:

"I have something to talk to you and your mother about. Please come to the kitchen."

Leaving as silently as he had arrived, Shibi drew the door shut behind him and left Shino by himself once again. The younger Aburame contemplated the tree for a moment longer, before summoning his kikai back to himself and following his father.

While he walked after Shibi, Shino thought on the events he had heard whispers of. Surely, that was what this was about. The boy, not of the clan, now bearing a queen. And not simply some unfortunate civilian, either. A boy his own age, in training to become a ninja. Not the ideal age to adjust to a kikaichuu queen and her offspring, but still.

Oddly enough, the prospect of something out of the ordinary excited Shino. Things had been somewhat slow, and while he loved his family, the other clan members could sometimes be…frustrating. He meditated a great deal with his kikai and his trees, but the prospect of having a new person in the clan was extremely interesting. And the Uzumaki boy, no less! How strange. The other boy was almost like a dragonfly in his behaviors, so swift and flighty, but entertaining to watch if one could keep one's eye on it. Nothing like the Aburame.

Reaching the entrance to the kitchen, Shino followed his father into the room, seating himself on one of the cushions. His mother, a gentle woman well-known for her grace and beauty, turned towards them from the counter. The mischief in her eyes was visible behind her glasses, those eyes that she had gotten from her non-Aburame mother, along with other non-Aburame traits.

Shibi sighed inwardly as he saw that look. How much did she already know or guess about all this? He shrugged to himself mentally. Leave it to his wife to know before she was informed. Seating himself, he began slowly:

"I am sure you both heard what happened, correct? With the Uzumaki boy?"

Both his wife and son nodded in acknowledgement and Shibi continued.

"Hmm. Well, I am not entirely sure what will happen with that situation, but I would like for all of us to get to know the boy better. Not only is this a request from the Hokage, but I am open to treat the boy well, if he earns it. I will admit, I am somewhat interested in him as well…he is so unlike us, after all."

Shino nodded at his father's expression of interest, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"I am quite intrigued as well, father. He is…well. Strange, for one thing. My kikai react rather oddly to him as well, so I would like to find out just what it is about him that causes that."

Shibi frowned inwardly. That might become a problem later…though the boy himself seemed perfectly normal, it was unknown just how much influence the Kyuubi would have on him and his newly acquired kikai…or vice-versa. He shrugged it off for now, reasoning that there would be no harm in two young boys getting to know one another.

"Well, he will be arriving some time tomorrow to work on connecting with his kikaichuu."

"Oh, good. He can have dinner with us."

Shibi nodded thoughtfully to himself. He supposed it was as good a way as any to acquaint themselves with the boy. As his wife turned back to a counter filled with pickling jars and slices of ginger, he stood and beckoned Shino to follow him. As they left the kitchen, he caught his wife's eye and held it for a moment, before walking of with his son to the tree room. Seating themselves on the cushions in the center, they both fell silent.

On some unspoken agreement, both Aburame called forth their legions of kikai; the room filled with a chaotic cloud of insects, whirling dervishes of varied size and speed, all going around the room with no particular aim in mind. The swarms calmed and coalesced into a tight spiral around their hosts as the will of the two Aburame became focused, awaiting their commands. With but a thought, the two swarms rushed out in a living tidal wave, spreading to every corner of the tree-filled room, each one on some errand.

Both Aburame sat quietly in seiza, eyes closed, flickering slightly under their eyelids as they spread their consciousness through the swarms. Through hundreds upon hundred of eyes, the room seemed to slow to a crawl as it fractured into mirrored shards. Here, a kikai picked up a single drop of water with a hundred of its brothers, bringing the nourishing liquid to a tree on one of the many tables. There, dozens of jaws clamped around fallen pine needles, drawing them up from the ground and carrying them to the composting bin. Shino's mind, carried by his chakra and his will, flew with thousands; drop by drop, watering; plant by plant, tending. He saw it all through the composite eyes of his swarms. For nearly a full minute, he maintained this focus. However, this oneness with the swarm exhausted both mind and body. Small family seals, placed for safety, flared on his back, jolting him lightly out of the meditative trance. He opened his eyesand sighed. Still not quite a minute. His chakra levels were simply not high enough yet to both maintain contact and enhance the swarm as he was supposed to. His focus was razor sharp; almost too sharp, in fact, as he still required the seals to break him out of the thrall of hive-mind.

Shino watched his father, recalling his own swarm as Shibi's continued busily about the room. He could tell that he was improving, though he still had much work to do. His kikai had grown a great deal over the last year, in speed and strength. Standing silently, the younger Aburame left the room without disturbing his father. There was some work to do if he were to meet the Uzumaki boy tonight. After all, he was almost family now, and new family meant gifts.

* * *

A mile away from the Aburame's homes, a chorus of dogs barking tore through the air of an otherwise silent valley, the location of the Inuzuka clan's home. Walled in naturally by the small hills, the site had been chosen to muffle noise from the clan's…enthusiastic partners. For which, their neighbors thanked every single kami they could think of, as the Inuzuka, both human and dog, were not quiet individuals. A nice quiet family morning for the clan usually consisted of…

"Oy! Kiba! Get your lazy ass up, runt, it's time for breakfast!"

Inuzuka Tsume, current leader of the clan, yelled at her still sleeping son, her partner Kuromaru punctuating her shout with a sharp bark. A thump and muffled swearing came from above, prompting a roll of the eyes from Tsume's other child. Hana, the older one, looked up from a worn medical textbook as her mother shouted up at her brother once again.

"Watch that mouth, Kiba, or I'll wash it out for you, ya?"

Stumbling down the stairs and attempting to get his unruly mane of hair under control with his fingers, Kiba grumbled at his mother in protest.

"Oh, come off it, Ma, I heard you use those exact same words just yesterday…ouch!"

Kuromaru shoulder tackled the boy to the ground, sitting heavily on him with a thump. The huge dog growled at the boy, speaking in a thick accent through his fangs.

"Tha's righ', pup. But yes'day we didna' ha' guests coming, so behave yerself."

"All right, all right, Kuromaru, I get it…you don't have to get all intense on me." The boy waved his hands in submission, extricating himself from under the massive canine.

"Subtle as ever, Inuzukas…" a smooth voice drawled into the conversation.

Tsume frowned for a moment, then grinned ferally. "I know that lazy-ass voice…come in here, you one-eyed son of a bitch!"

A shock of gray hair above a face mostly obscured by a headband and a facemask poked its way into the house, followed by the lanky ninja it was attached to. He waved lazily. "Yo, long time no see everyone."

Hana looked up form her textbook and frowned. "Oh. Hatake-san. I'm going to go and study in my room, mom." A chilly expression crossed her face as she gathered her things and left the room with nary another word. Hatake Kakashi seemed to droop somewhat at this entirely unenthusiastic reception, his casual manner dissipating somewhat. "Shmaa…she still doesn't want to even look at me, huh?"

Tsume frowned. "No…she took Rin's death even harder than the rest of us. Those two were close…don't worry, though, Kakashi. None of us, not even her, blame you for that. She'll come to terms with it."

Under the mask, Kakashi frowned for a moment, then gave Tsume one of his eye smiles. "Thanks, Tsume, I hope so…Anyway, I wanted to compare some info about something very interesting I just heard…"

Beneath the foundation, in hidden spaces…all over Konohagakure, pieces had begun to move in a great and intricate dance. From the Hokage's tower to the poorest sectors of town, whispers began spinning their web across Konoha. Images woven by minds driven by fear and doubts flew like winged fog across the consciousness of the people. Hidden agendas were moved up…the clan who bore winged destruction had acquired a new member, after all. This called for a celebration…

Hungry shadows gathered in the dark corners, carrion birds smelling death on the wind and power to be scrounged by those not held back by silly things like scruples, morals and honor. Armored and razored smiles clashed, unseen wars ended, deals were made and betrayed. The balance of Konoha had changed, and through it, the equilibrium of the world of ninja was about to shift…but none of this mattered to a certain Uchiha family. Shouts arose from the home of one Uchiha Fugaku, an angry and strident voice running counterpoint to a low and quiet one.

"Enough, Itachi! This is none of your business! You are _my_ son, and I will run my family as I see fit! I have told you before, concentrate on your own duties, leave your…what? You dare!"

A hard smack of knuckles on flesh echoed out from the house, where a horrified Uchiha Mikoto watched her oldest child stand with his back against the wall, wiping blood from a split lip. Her husband glared at his son, flexing his knuckles and raising his hand for another blow. He faltered at the strangely blank look in Itachi's eyes; his son was gazing at the red smear on the back of his hand, an unreadable look on his face. Fugaku frowned and lowered his hand again, looking askance at his son. Itachi's face had already smoothed over further, however, into a carefully blank mask. A faint glimmer of amusement and mockery shone in the young man's dark eyes as he bowed slightly to his father.

"I will, of course, acquiesce to your wishes, Father."

Fugaku's frowned deepened at this strangely conciliatory tone, but he nodded grimly. Itachi bowed again, then vanished into a swirl of leaves. As his son disappeared, Fugaku seized a dark kimono from the nearby closet, throwing it on with an almost violent movement and heading towards the door. Mikoto, angry and pale with fear, interposed herself between her husband and the door, flinching a bit at the sheer anger in his glare, but standing fast. "Where are you going, husband? Please…please don't do anything rash…"

Ignoring her, Fugaku simply pushed past her out of the door, leaving his wife alone in an empty house. Mikoto let out a sob of anger and sadness, slumping to the ground. She could feel her family disintegrating around her, and she felt helpless to do anything about it. "No…" she muttered, gathering her shredded will. She would not simply give in. She had already done so much to ensure both her children's futures, to ensure that they would never have to compete for their father's attention…that had changed recently, though. Itachi had changed, as had Fugaku…and more would have to be done. She would not just let her entire family run through her fingers like so much sand. She felt trapped between loyalty to her husband and love for her children, the feeling nearly overwhelming her as she left the house in a daze, barely keeping herself from collapsing, drawing on some unknown well of mental strength.

* * *

When at last her wanderings ended, hours later, she found herself at the entrance to a small shrine. A single statuette adorned the simple shrine; no other decorations filled the square. Wrapped around a stone set in the very center of the shrine, the dragon held four small objects, one gripped in each claw. Curious, and desperate for some relief from the woes that beset her mind, Mikoto entered the shrine and brushed the dust and cobwebs from the stone and dragon. The cleansing revealed the statuette to be a beautiful, ancient thing, bronze and jade. The four objects it held were wonderfully wrought, detailed beyond anything the woman had ever seen. In its left front claw, it gripped a sword. In its right, a necklace of magatama beads, each seemingly made of a tiny piece of solid jade. The lower claws held a burnished bronze mirror and a tiny pearl. Intrigued by the exquisite craftsmanship, Mikoto leaned closer. Nearer to the statue, she could make out tiny engraved characters on the stone beneath the dragon, worn with time, but still readable.

Tracing the ancient writing with a finger, Mikoto shivered. For a moment, it had felt slick and smooth, nothing like stone at all. She read the writing aloud in a hushed voice, still tracing the indentations with a delicate finger, struggling to read the worn text.

" '…I am…monument to a fallen age. The…descendants of Amaterasu…scattered to the four winds…shall lead the people now? Kami great and small…over the ashes of… crumbled age…the Three…obscurity. Know that…the Three…new bearers…storms rise…I pray…the right thing. Forgive this…Ameterasu.'"

The last line seemed to be etched into the stone with another rock, rather the tooled lines of the earlier characters. There seemed to be more marks, but they had been worn away by the winds of time.

"Just how old is this…" Mikoto muttered to herself as she stood away from the strange monument. She turned and barely managed to restrain a scream of fright as her son stepped into a column of moonlight behind her, appearing from the shadows like a ghost.

"Itachi! You…kami! Are you all right?" She gasped involuntarily as she got a better look at her son. His skin was as pale as snow, he shook with cold, and…his eyes…

"Oh, Itachi…" Her son bore the accursed Mangekyo Sharingan, its distinctive patterns spiraling in haunted eyes. Saying nothing to his shocked mother, Itachi walked over to the monument. He gently placed a hand on the dragon statuette's head, whispering something softly, just on the edge of hearing for his confused mother.

"Soon…" he crooned softly, seemingly both to the statue and himself. "Soon…the wind and thunder will roar and clash with the dark sun…Ameterasu's heirs will awaken…"

Mikoto overcame the sick dread building in the pit of her stomach, reaching out to her son. She gently touched his shoulder, whispering, hesitant.

"Itachi…? Son?"

He turned and looked at her, those horrible eyes staring through hers for a moment. Something seemed to dawn on him, and the spirals slowed and subsided into the soft black of his normal eyes, the Sharingan's red fading.

"Ah, mother…they will be so strong. Stronger than any in this world….I have seen it, Mother…"

Mikoto frowned in confusion. "I…I don't understand what you're talking about, Itachi…what happened? What have you done!"

Her voice rose to a near scream, as her son smiled at her. The joy leached from this smile, however, until nothing remained but a mirthless rictus glistening in the evening moonlight. " Why…I have called the storms to earth, Mother…let us go home, shall we?"

With nary another word, Itachi walked away from his terrified and bewildered mother. Mikoto watched her son vanish into the shadows once more, mind screaming with the strangeness of the encounter. The situation seemed to be getting worse and worse. Mikoto had always been one to trust her intuition, and every single sense she had was screaming at her that something was terribly, terribly wrong with her son. She hadn't made it to chuunin before marrying Fugaku by ignoring her senses, and the sick hole in the pit of her stomach boded ill for what lay ahead. She hurried off in the opposite direction as Itachi, headed for the Hokage's tower. She was not about to let this threaten her family; she had dealt with something she had seen as a problem after Itachi had been born, after all. This needed action even more. She just hoped the Hokage would be willing to grant a worried mother an audience.

Itachi strolled in the direction of home, the evening breeze ruffling the wrinkles in his ANBU uniform where Shisui had grabbed him earlier. He glanced down at them, frowning. That wouldn't do at all. Lifting his hand and flaring a bit of chakra to the palm, he smoothed it over the wrinkled sections. The heat of the chakra and the dampness still permeating the shirt made for a decent makeshift ironing effect, ridding the clothing of the wrinkles. Satisfied, Itachi continued homewards, still smiling to himself.

He thought back to earlier in the day; the offer that had been made still stood, according to the masked man who claimed kinship with him had said. And the assistance had been of great use, as had the information on the Mangekyo...however. Itachi could fairly smell the corruption and lust for power from this supposed Uchiha. The one with him, however…not a single hidden intent. The odd orange mask aside, the second ninja seemed to have absolutely nothing radiating from him except a strange sense of fascination, such as one might get from a small child. Quite unlike the taller, older ninja who chose to wear the mask of an oni. They would all serve his ends, however…

After all, had they not appeared just as he needed them? The dark flames of the sun would burn all that was necessary to awaken the storms. Itachi's smile grew from a gentle curve of the lips into something truly terrible to look upon, cold flames dancing in his eyes as he laughed quietly to himself.

"And now, the real play begins…"

In the skies above, scraps of clouds blew together over the moon for a single moment, seeming to devour the light shining over Konoha, save for the area where Itachi walked. His eyes flared into the full and terrible glory of the Mangekyo Sharingan as he gazed up at the moon, his laugh echoing in the trees long after he left. It was a beautiful evening…though the storms were gathering. The wind would roar and the lightning would dance…so soon.

End Chapter 2


	4. Blood Soaked Son

**A.N. :** Righto, here we go. Whoo....it's been a while again. Not nearly so long as the last wait, but...anyways, stuff has been occurring in my personal life. Nothing that has anything to do with the story, but it's been taking up my time. So.

Here is the next chapter, in which I make a small change to things.

-------

Chapter Three- A Blood Soaked Sun

-------

"Hokage-sama…please…"

In the Hokage's office, a mother raised her voice for the sake of her family. Mikoto was nearly in tears as she attempted to persuade Sarutobi to take Itachi off of active duty, though she was fighting a losing battle.

"Mikoto-san, I don't…I understand that you're worried about your son. I will say that have even been some irregularities in his work that raise some concerns. However…"

"…you're not going to take him off duty because of this." Mikoto finished dully, drooping bodily. The Hokage sighed. "Well, yes. But this is, for now, an issue between him and his commander. I am not going to simply take him off duty. He will need to report to an analyst and his commander for evualation, but I can't just take him off duty so suddenly without a great deal of reason. And I won't interfere with your family more than I feel comfortable doing….please try and understand."

Mikoto's eyes flared in anger mixed with fear, developing a look as in the eyes of a cornered animal. Her voice shook as it rose an octave, her emotions clouding her pronunciation.

"Oh, I understand, Hokage-sama! I understand all too well!"

Her sharp tone sliced across the room, leaving only silence behind. The Hokage simply looked back at her, a saddened expression on his face. She clapped hands to her mouth, horrified at the disrespect she had just displayed.

"…I…I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, I just…I don't know what to do!"

The distraught woman collapsed, the fear and confusion finally overwhelming her as she dissolved into quiet tears. The Hokage sighed and stood, clouds gathering on his brow as he walked over to the woman and knelt beside her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Ah…Mikoto-san…I'm sorry that I cannot do more. But there are already murmurs from the clans about my interference, and I will not risk the stability of Konoha on this. Please, I'm not your foe in this."

Mikoto looked up at him, tears streaking down her cheeks and pooling under her chin. She wiped them off angrily, then took a deep breath. "I know, I know, Hokage-sama…I just…I know that something is going wrong with Itachi, but I don't know what or why…"

She gave a sigh of such helplessness that it wrenched at the Hokage's heart, but he steeled himself against it. He had to, this time. He still didn't know what might come of her plea from the last time she had met with him in such a state. He kept his hand on her shoulder, quietly summoning one of his ANBU. In response, a female wearing a cat mask appeared quietly in the corner of the room.

"I promise I'll do as much as I can, Mikoto-san. I have to be fair to Itachi himself, but with any luck, it may just be stress from home and from his duties in ANBU. He has been taking more missions as of late. Meanwhile…"

Gently helping the woman to her feet, Sarutobi nodded again at the cat-masked ANBU.

"…why don't you let Neko-san here help you home? You must be tired after all of this…please, go and rest."

Mikoto nodded weakly and latched onto the surprised ANBU, almost dragging her out of the office. As they left, Sarutobi heard the younger woman talking to Mikoto in a low tone; whatever she was saying, it seemed to help somewhat. He smiled grimly, muttering to himself under his breath.

"Leave it to Yuugao-chan…hopefully she could do something to help Mikoto's mood a bit."

Walking back to behind his desk, Sarutobi sat in his chair with a heavy sigh. Mikoto was right, though he couldn't exactly tell her that outright. There had been some reports of extremely odd behavior from her oldest child, in both ANBU and civilian activities. He had not been his usual self while on duty at all; in fact, he almost seemed distracted by something. Whatever it was, his captain had yet to get a clear answer from him about the change in his behavior, and it was coming to the point where despite his stellar performance in the past, he might have to be removed from duty anyway.

Shaking his head, he pulled open a small drawer below the edge of his desk, grunting a little as the old wood caught and protested. "Damn desk…I keep meaning to get it oiled…"

Finally wrenching open the drawer, he drew out a small wooden seal, finely carved into a shape not unlike a small mask. Taking a deep breath in, the Hokage channeled a precise amount of chakra into the small piece of wood, which seemed to suck in the energy greedily. Taking the seal, he then pressed it into the surface of his desk, in the very center of a small design etched into the wood. The seal and the pattern both flared for a moment, then the small blob of chakra was sucked into a vast and complicated system of wires designed to conduct chakra. The pulse sped along, whizzing through buildings on its wings of metal, finally ending in ANBU headquarters, flashing into a bell that chimed pure and clear. The ANBU commander frowned and looked up from his work, taking his mask from the desk he was sitting at and quickly putting it on.

"You and you," he began, pointing at two of his subordinates. "You're coming with me. Sub-commander, you're in charge while I'm gone. The Hokage has called."

Without waiting for a response (and indeed, needing none, as he knew his subordinates), the commander immediately disappeared, the air where he had stood imploding with a soft puff. He and his subordinates all appeared outside the base, atop the roofs of Konoha, and dashed off towards the Hokage's tower.

One of the younger ANBU managed to catch up with the commander, asking in a somewhat confused voice: "This is the first time in quite a while that we've been summoned with the bell, Captain…?"

The commander frowned under his mask. "I don't know any more than you do…but it's likely not good news. Let's just get to the Tower as quickly as we can. Move it!"

The commander sped up, forcing his two seconds to match his pace or be left far behind. Within a few minutes, the three of them arrived in the Hokage's office, appearing in the wide space facing the desk. The Hokage set down some papers he was examining and nodded. "Ah, good. You're here…" Waving a hand at the two lower ranked ANBU, he said: "You two are dismissed, I only need to speak to your commander." As the two disappeared once more, even more confused than before, the Hokage tapped his finger on the table idly. "Now. Commander, I need to speak with you about Uchiha Itachi. Some disturbing reports have come to my attention, and I wish to do as much as I can for the situation. What can you tell me about his recent performance in ANBU? Be as specific as possible, please."

The ANBU commander began slowly, but picked up the pace as he dug the relevant facts from his mind. "Well, sir…in the past, Itachi-san has been an excellent member of ANBU, despite his young age, and he has always had exemplary performance…"

The commander paused for a moment, searching for a way to phrase it, but the Hokage beat him to it. "But not recently?"

Reluctantly, the commander nodded. "Yes…something has been…off recently. He hasn't said, but from what I know of the situation, there seems to be trouble between him and his clan. I'm not sure what, though, and I haven't asked him."

Sarutobi nodded thoughtfully, motioning the commander to continue. The man began another sentence, but cut it short as the same design the Hokage had used to call the ANBU began to flare with energy, signaling another incoming ANBU. "What now…hmm?!"

The two younger members of ANBU who had just left appeared in the office, breathless and pale. "Sirs!" one of them shouted abruptly, taking no time for protocol. "Sirs, you'd better come with us! Shunshin no Shisui's been found dead…in Uchiha Itachi-san's patrol sector!"

"What?!" the Hokage exclaimed, rising from his seat in shock. "Lead me there. Now! And you, summon one of the Inuzuka!"

He leapt out of the window, displaying incredible agility for such an aged man, and waited for a moment atop the nearby ledge for the two ANBU. "Which way?"

"This way, sir! He was found dead in the river, it looks like he drowned…" Falling into silence, the small group headed down to the riverbank, arriving just as a medical ninja was standing up from a sodden pile on the bank. The medic saluted the Hokage, with a grim expression on his face. "Sorry, sir. He's been dead too long for revival…I can't tell right off the bat exactly how long, but he's been in the water for some time now."

"There goes any chance of tracking where it happened with the Inuzuka's dogs..." the ANBU commander muttered. The medic nodded in agreement, then continued. "By the looks of his clothes, and the broken bones, he must've hit the river from a ways up…probably knocked unconscious on impact and then drowned."

"Is there anything on him that would indicate how it happened?"

The medic nodded slowly, reaching down to the bank and picking up a wrapped book, small enough to fit into a pocket. "Yes, sir…this appears to be his journal, and there's an entry for this morning…but it's very odd…"

"In what way….? And where is Uchiha Itachi? I thought you said this was his patrol area?"

The ANBU commander shrugged slightly, glancing at the captain who had been in charge of the scene. "Well…the two who brought us here, they should have mentioned that he took the day off. The Uchiha are having a meeting, apparently."

Sarutobi acknowledged the information with a nod then turned back to the medic. "Now, in what way is this journal odd?"

The other man grimaced, opening the book to a marked page "Well, sir, I'll show you…it's very disjointed and confused, as if Shisui-san wasn't fully aware of what he was writing…"

The Hokage walked over to the medical ninja, taking the book from him and opening to the marker. "Hmm…"

It read: "_Dear Itachi;_

_Ah, my brother in all but blood…I am sorry. These…whispers in my mind are too much to bear._

_I can't take this anymore._

_This burden is too great for me to carry; it haunts me, drives my thoughts._

_I cannot stand before the storms as I thought I could, in my arrogance._

_The weight of her duty is now upon you._

_Bear the flame, and wield our sword. Redeem the future of the clan._

_This…dark gift is all I can do for you. Tell Sakae I'm sorry I'll miss her birthday again..."_

The Hokage narrowed his eyes and read the short entry over again, brow creasing in anger and worry. The ANBU commander looked on with a worried expression as Sarutobi shut the book with a sharp movement and pocketed it. "Commander!" the old man snapped.

"Yes, sir?"

"I will be returning to my offices. Bring Uchiha Itachi directly to me once he is found, let no one else speak to him. Seal off the scene, no one outside this group will meddle with it while I am gone. Once the examination of the body is complete, return Shisui to his family for burial. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good. Young man!" This was addressed at the medical ninja, who was continuing to examine the body of the Uchiha. "Sir?"

"Bring your results and those of the Inuzuka to me as soon as you are finished. I will need them as quick as is feasible."

Without waiting for more of a reply, the Hokage dashed off towards the tower, leaving the confused ANBU at the scene. Sarutobi sped across Konoha, that accursed book seeming to burn him with what it held. He would be damned before he let this happen the way it looked to be playing out.

* * *

Hours later, and far away from the sodden corpse of Shisui, the lanterns of a small ramen stand glowed in the twilight. Naruto sat eating a hearty bowl of ramen, steam rising as he tried to talk at the same time.

"Yeah, they didn't let me eat ramen at the hospital, can you believe that, so I've gotta catch up!"

The older man smiled warmly at Naruto, stirring the metal pot on the stove. "How are you feeling? I heard you'd ended up in the hospital, but not why."

Naruto waved dismissively, not wanting to worry the Ichirakus. "Eh, it wasn't much. I got lost in some caves and some weird stuff happened, but I'm fine now." Taking a gulp of the warm broth, he noticed Teuchi's eye still lingering on him.

"Is that it? Well, I'm glad you're alright."

Ayame came from the storage area, lugging a large sack of ingredients. Frowning, she shook her head at Naruto. "Let me guess, Naruto-kun, you got into trouble trying to get away from the ANBU so you could play a prank. You shouldn't go running around like that."

Scratching the back of his head, Naruto laughed awkwardly. "Aaa, Ayame-chan, you caught me."

Teuchi chuckled. The boy was a good customer; though some had grumbled about him serving anything to the kid, Teuchi had long held the opinion that money was money, food was food, and in the end, the boy was yet another in a long line of hungry customers. He wasn't about to refuse someone based on rumors, hearsay, and outright, obvious bias. Unless, of course, Naruto actually started to turn into a demon. Generally, he would draw the line at serving ramen to eldritch terrors bent on burning the world.

Anyway, Ayame liked him well enough, and she was smart enough to know if someone wasn't acting like they really were. More than enough male customers had been shot down hard by his daughter for him to know that. Why, recently, she'd not even had to use the ladle on anyone to get her point across. He frowned slightly as he watched Naruto finish off the last of the noodles and raise the bowl to his lips, slurping noisily.

"Heh. You need to work on your manners a little, Naruto-kun, slurping it like that's just going to send the broth everywhere. I'm glad you like our ramen that much, but…"

Naruto waved with his chopsticks as he drained the bowl of broth. "Ah! That was good! Eh? But eating it like that makes it taste better!"

Teuchi laughed again. "So you say every time."

Ayame dumped the sack of varied bones they had gotten from the butcher just a while ago and began sorting them expertly, calling out to Naruto as she did so: "Mmm, but you're never going to get a girl interested in you if you act like that all the time, Naruto-kun! Girls like men with manners."

"Ha! I think he's got a while yet, Ayame! He's still just barely into the Academy."

"Hey! I have manners! …Somewhere. I just choose not to use them! And why would I want a girl interested in me?"

Teuchi just laughed.

* * *

The news had spread like wildfire throughout Konoha, igniting the imagination of the citizens. Uchiha Shisui was dead, of an apparently suicidal plunge into the river. His best friend, Itachi, was absent from anyone's recollection. All found the circumstances suspicious, though they were not sure of who to lay that suspicion on. Itachi? The Uchiha were not speaking with any outsiders, and it was rumored that they knew who and why the two young men had been attacked. Despite the hundreds of theories, everyone was clear on one point. Something was going on, heavily involving the Uchiha. If two of their best and brightest had been attacked on the same day, after all…

The Hokage was even more certain of this, as he was privy to certain facts that almost no one else had access to. He had spoken to Itachi, and…he had to agree with Mikoto. He wasn't sure what, but something was wrong with the boy.

So it was that on the very evening of the strange death of Shisui, Itachi stood before the Hokage and his father, the Uchiha clan head. Both of the Uchiha were silent, matching each other's stares; Fugaku bore an expression of utter exhaustion, while Itachi had utterly blank one.

The Hokage sighed and began slowly. "Itachi-san…just so you know, as far as I am concerned, you are not under any suspicion for whatever events happened today. However, I have received somewhat disturbing reports of your behavior over the last weeks. As such, and due to the strange circumstances, you are hereby relieved from duty, and ordered to report to your Commander and the counselors for evaluation within three days. You are also to remain in the village. Do you have any questions?"

Itachi shook his head slowly; his black eyes barely even glimmering in the face of the Hokage's glance. "No, Hokage-sama."

Something in Fugaku seemed to relax at Itachi's agreement; Sarutobi made a mental note of the fact that Itachi's own father seemed to be abnormally worried about his reaction.

"Am I required further, Hokage-sama?" Itachi inquired calmly, drawing another sharp glance. There was absolutely nothing to read in the boy's face. Being hard to read was strange enough, but outright impossible…the Hokage nodded, finally.

"No, Itachi-san. You and Fugaku-san are both dismissed."

Fugaku looked like he might protest, but a slight shake of Sarutobi's head quashed that.

"Good day to you both…" he said, turning back to his paperwork. Itachi inclined his head slightly then vanished into Shunshin. Fugaku stayed for a moment more, wavering, but he snorted softly to himself and walked out the door. Sarutobi sighed heavily once more, taking a small pouch of high-quality tobacco out of his desk and filling his pipe. As he lit it with a flare of chakra and puffed the embers into smoke, he wondered if he had done the right thing. Not doing anything was unlikely to work in this situation, but…he might have just done as much harm as good. However, he knew at least this might prevent Danzo from meddling more with the Uchiha. He just hoped the clan would be able to rally around one of their own…

There were far too many pieces in this puzzle, however, none of which seemed to match. The Hokage could not yet tell how his actions might affect the situation in Konoha…and what linked Danzo to all this, in the end? Did he have something to do with Itachi's oddities of late? Or perhaps something to do with the death of Itachi's best friend? Something was still underneath the surface, niggling at Sarutobi's mind. There was something he was missing…

Sighing yet again, Sarutobi looked at all the papers on his desk that needed examining. Plots were pushed to the back of his mind as the more mundane realities of running an entire village sunk back in. It was all very well, saying one would do something…but by all the kami, the paperwork!

* * *

Barely a quarter of an hour later, as Sarutobi had just finished trudging through a great number of requisition forms for the IT division (cursing his own sense of responsibility all the way), Naruto burst in through the door, followed closely by Sarutobi's appalled secretary, who was alternately trying to remove the boy and babble some sort of apology. The old man blinked, a piece of paper held in his hand, and then he remembered. Oh dear, he'd asked Naruto to meet with him today, hadn't he? There was so much to remember and deal with, and it was so hard taking care of all the things only he had the authority to deal with as well as still set aside at least a little time to spend with Naruto…breaking out of that chain of thought, he smiled. Well, it seems the boy had a better memory than he did...which was honestly somewhat worrying, given that Naruto had, plainly speaking, no attention span.

Waving a hand at his poor assistant, who looked somewhat distraught that Naruto had managed to make his way past her, he said gently. "It's alright, young lady, I was hoping to see Naruto sometime this evening. You can let go of him."

She almost visibly slumped in relief that she had, in fact, not made a grievous error, and released the boy with a grumble about even if he had an appointment, there were more polite ways of entering the Hokage's office than at a dead run. Sarutobi smiled again, this time directed at Naruto. "Ah, Naruto-kun. It's good to see you, though my assistant is quite right about running into my office. What brings you here in such a hurry? I know I asked you to meet with me, but it wasn't anything that required quite that much of a hurry."

Naruto blushed, and made a furtive glance at the clock that Sarutobi none the less caught. "Ah…that's right. Well, no matter, Naruto-kun. How was your dinner? I suppose you had a good meal, as I assume you came here from Ichiraku's…"

The boy dithered for a moment, and Sarutobi gestured to one of the chairs on the side of the office. Naruto walked over and pulled the chair up in front of the desk, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Well, Jiji…uh…first off, sorry for being late, I kinda lost track of time…"

His voice trailed off, as he looked at Sarutobi with something akin to hope on his face. The Hokage laughed, and his creased face split into a smile. "Oh, stop, Naruto, you look like you're about to get detention or something. To be honest, I lost track of time too, what with all this paperwork, and I completely forgot you were coming until you burst in the door. Now, what's all this enthusiasm about?"

"Right! Um. Well, the Aburame invited me to dinner tomorrow. Older Aburame-san is a little…um. Serious? But he seems nice enough. So I wanted to talk to you about it."

"Did you now? What did you say?"

"Uhh…I dunno. I was a little surprised they would invite me to their house, but they didn't seem to think anything of it."

"Hmm…well, were you polite? It's important to be polite to them, you know."

Sarutobi's voice took on a gently chiding tone, and Naruto blushed again. "Yeah, I guess so…but I…um. Never mind."

The old man raised an eyebrow, giving Naruto a penetrating gaze. The boy became somewhat flustered, backpedaling again. "Well…you know I've told you before about people being nasty to me and ignoring me, right? I just…well, I'm..."

Naruto flushed and fell silent. Something unreadable came into Sarutobi's eyes as he continued gazing at Naruto. Finally, he sighed. "Naruto…trust me when I say that I know it's hard. However…it won't last forever. And not all people are like that. People, as a whole, find change difficult…on a personal level, however, it becomes far easier to accept."

"Um…what do you mean, Jiji? I just want people to respect me…"

"And there are people who do, Naruto-kun. But keep in mind; it's not a quick jump to respect. If you become close to others, let them see you as you are, let them be your friends if they will, those are the ones who will become your true allies."

The boy frowned as Sarutobi stood and walked around the desk, coming to a stop in front of Naruto and leaning back against the desk. "You might not understand it fully now, Naruto. But you will, sooner or later. Respect is something you earn, not something that is simply given to you. And it sounds like you've made a good beginning with the Aburame."

"Yeah…I guess. Um…Jiji, what do you mean by letting people see me as I am? I am who I am, and there's no other me. So…"

Sarutobi smiled again, this time somewhat sadly. "I mean, Naruto, that sometimes there are things people find hard to accept about themselves. And sometimes, people don't act like their real selves, in order to not remind themselves of those things. I don't think you do that at all, though. You are, without a doubt, one of the most straightforward people I know, even out of the adults I speak with. That is a strength of yours…but some may consider it weakness."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, looking at Sarutobi more closely. "Hey…wait a second, are you trying to teach me something? I get enough of that in school, Jiji…"

"Heh…well, this is something that isn't really taught in any school, Naruto. It takes experience to fully learn. Don't worry about it, though. You'll learn it on your own, there isn't any homework."

The old man smiled inwardly at Naruto's sigh of relief. Such a strange boy…well, not that strange, in this world. All ninja were, in the beginning, children gifted with great powers. He hoped- no, prayed, to all the kami he knew of- that the boy would be able to handle what would undoubtedly be great trials through his life. Changing the subject again, he patted Naruto on the head. "It will all turn out for the better in the end, Naruto. All things worth having require some work. And it's very good to hear that you've been invited to the Aburame's. They may seem a little…distant, but they are one of the most loyal clans that Konoha has. If they are willing to have you in their home…there will be no argument about it. You will be family, to all of them. Even from ones who don't like you. Now, just try not playing too many pranks on them, won't you?"

Naruto gave a long-suffering sigh, as the oft-discussed topic came up again. "Yeah, yeah, Jiji, not too many pranks…geez, you'd think being pranked is the end of the world, considering how some people react…"

Sarutobi laughed again, smiling warmly. "Well, Naruto, I suppose that depends on the prank, now doesn't it? Now, I'm sorry to rush you, but I have a great deal of paperwork I still need to finish, and you do have classes tomorrow, don't you?"

The boy's eyes widened as he looked at the clock again. "Oh, yeah! You're right, tomorrow's the start of the new classes and everything! I'd better go and get my stuff ready! Thanks for the talk, Jiji, and you need to get some sleep too!"

Sarutobi smiled again as Naruto rushed out at the same speed he'd come in, but as Naruto disappeared, he took on a somewhat grim look. Yes, the boy was absolutely right, he needed to sleep too…but. There was always a 'but'. It seemed as if his duties, and things that weren't his duties, kept getting in the way. Politics, strategies, the balance of power between the villages, as well as inside the village itself….all these things got in the way. It was a rare day indeed that he found some true downtime in order to just relax. Still…despite all the energy he had, Naruto's visits were one of those times when he didn't have to worry quite as much. Seeing all of that in a boy who had grown up without family…that was greatly encouraging. There was pain in those blue eyes, too, but Sarutobi had done everything he could to deflect that. He sighed, and turned to a piece of paperwork which he hoped might deflect more pain for someone else.

* * *

The chill wind blowing that night bit into the inhabitants of Konoha, driving them forward to their destinations with all haste. One child in particular, hurrying home after a solo practice session, was particularly eager to return home. It had been a long day, and the desire to show the entire family a recently learned technique burned in the youngster's mind.

As the Uchiha's gates loomed up before the child, however, there was no greeting, no hail to a returning scion of the house. There was nothing but the moan of the wind as a greeting. The air felt strange, as if there was an energy vibrating in the breeze. Confused, the child moved past the gates, looking carefully for the usual guards. No signs at all. In fact, as the child looked into the gatehouse, it looked as if the guards had simply vanished. A mug of hot tea sat on the table, still steaming. Cards, too, were set down on the table, as if the players had gotten up from the game to retrieve something, but not returned. The eerie silence seemed to crush all senses, an oppressive grasp that would not let go.

The young one backed out of the gatehouse and set out for home, mind roiling in confusion. Why was it so silent? Where was everyone? Had a meeting been called? Yes, that must be it, the child thought. Father had been calling a lot of meetings lately. So thinking, the youth began tracing the route home.

As home drew nearer, however, a strange smell became evident in the air. It was a sickly sweet, tangy scent, with a horrible strength to it. What on earth was it? Fear awakened in the child, gnawing at the edges of awareness. What was that smell…it smelled somewhat like the dead fox that had been in the streets that one day. Feet moving faster and faster, the child rounded a corner and found devastation and horror.

There, on her doorstep, lay the aunt who had always been so loving, her face so twisted with pain and shock that it was barely recognizable, her stomach a bloody ruin. Next to her lay her husband, who had always had a kind word for everyone. He was almost in pieces, with the same horrified expression as the aunt. The child's breath caught, dry heaving at the horrible stench, looking around frantically, trying to find help, but death was everywhere. Cousins, aunts, uncles…even the little nephew who had just been born last month. They littered the streets like so much discarded trash, all having the expression of horrified shock. Blood. Blood everywhere. The child looked down at the street, running red with the lifeblood of the clan. Where were mother and father and Nii-san? What had happened?

The child began to run, stumbling over bodies as fresh scenes of horror etched themselves into memory. They were barely registered, however, in the midst of one prevailing thought: Were mother, father, and nii-san alright? Had whatever monster taken all these taken them too? As the young Uchiha moved in a numbed state of utter horror, that thought alone kept legs moving, drained with shock as they were. Passing bodies of distant relatives, dashing for home through the gore-filled streets, the child saw that the door of the house seemed to be the only one not covered in blood and corpses. A wild hope arose in the Uchiha's chest, and rushing through the door, the child called out:

"Mother? Father? Nii-sa…"

Skidding to a stop, the child saw an impossibility. There were Mother and Father, yes. And there was nii-san, too. But…he was holding a blood-soaked sword, staring down at them collapsed on the floor. His uniform, too, was drenched with crimson, and his eyes…

"Ah…" he said, seeming to notice his sibling standing at the door. He turned to look at the younger Uchiha, his eyes spinning in a strange pattern, an eerie look to them.

"So…you're here now too. I suppose that's all right. Look at what I have done, hmm? The storms will descend, all because of this…"

He was talking to his sibling, but not. The child shrieked aloud, a wordless cry of horror. "Nii-san! What…did you do all this? Did you…"

"Kill them all? Yes. Oh, don't worry. Our parents aren't dead. Yet. See?"

Leaning down, he lifted his own mother easily with one hand, gripping tightly around the gentle woman's throat. Mikoto cried out weakly, and struggled against the crushing power of that grip, looking at her youngest child, imploring with her eyes to run away, trying to gasp out a warning.

"Sa-aaah!"

Itachi laughed as he tightened his grip, a cold, dead sound, like iron scraping on ice. "None of that, mother. Do you hate me? I suppose you would. This is all necessary, however. Ameterasu's heirs must be awakened, and the pretenders removed."

So saying, he cast aside his mother with a horrible ease, throwing her against the wall with a crash. His sibling screamed again, running to their mother and trying desperately to get her to wake up. Itachi took the opportunity to lift his father up from the floor as well, raising his sword to the older man's chest. "I..ta…chi…" the older man gasped, fear evident in his eyes.

"Oh, father…how sad this all is. I had hoped I wouldn't have to draw out my strength like this, but things have come to a head, after all. Shisui saw it coming, though he could not bring himself to face it."

At the surprised widening of the eyes, Itachi smiled. It matched his laugh, a terrible expression that had no humor in it whatsoever. "Yes…Shisui was the only one of the clan who saw the necessity of it. And he gave himself up, as the first sacrifice… It is because of his loyalty that it has come to this. His offering gave me the strength to do what I could not have done on my own…"

As he spoke, he lifted the sword, pressing the tip against his father's chest. "Goodbye, father. I wish I could say I regretted this."

With a sharp movement, he drove the blade through his father, who jerked and coughed once, before Itachi threw him onto the ground. "Now…"

He turned to face his sibling, who stood trembling in the doorway, next to the motionless body of their mother. "Now for you…I shall show you fear. I shall show you pain, horror beyond what you have ever known…let us see how you take it. Tsukiyomi!"

The world shattered and became pain tinged in black and white. Only Itachi was there, his voice echoing strangely in the monochrome world. "Hate me. Fear me. Live your life, knowing that you were the only one that did not die. Will you hate me or yourself more?"

A blade, colder than ice, slid under the ribs, gliding through flesh with a fiery sting. The Uchiha screamed, then choked as another stabbed into lungs; the child coughed up blood, hacking past the red liquid and struggling for breath. Itachi smiled again, almost like he had when turning down another request for training.

"Taste that blood in your mouth, and learn it well. The taste will never leave you; it will follow you for all time. You will never know peace, so long as I live."

A scream of pain, ignored by Itachi as another blade appeared in his hand. He spoke quietly into his sibling's ear as he slowly slipped the steel into his young kin's leg. "Now, you will watch. See how I slaughtered our family."

Images flashed, all of relatives being mercilessly cut down by Itachi. Watching through Itachi's eyes, the last Uchiha could not move as the clan was decimated, eyes widening as fresh scenes imprinted themselves into memory.

"Will you despair? Will you curse your fate, as they did?"

It didn't matter whether they fought, ran, or pleaded; they all fell to Itachi's sword. Not even children were spared.

"Now…what will you do? Shall I tell you?"

The world shattered again, and Itachi was looking down.

"You shall go on. Alone, living an unsightly life. You will be the last of the Uchiha. Last of a disgrace upon the world, the last trade of a failed clan."

He knelt beside the young Uchiha's trembling body, whispering.

"Goodbye for now…Sakae, dearest little sister."

* * *

**A.N. :** ....so, yeah, I totally lied. There's that 'small change' I was talking about. I ask that you bear with me on this one. Think on Sasuke's actions in canon. Frankly, to me, there is something about his actions that just doesn't seem....well, it just doesn't seem much like a guy to me at all. To me, a guy raised in a Western culture with a background in Eastern (my mother is Chinese), Sasuke's canon personality has displayed a very strange mix of masculine and feminine characteristics; things defined as such by both West and East.

Now, think about the Uchiha clan. Like many ninja in Naruto (a bit odd, as I see it as a more samurai thing to do), they seem to place a focus on pride above all else. Pride of the family, don't be a disgrace, etc. Imagine Mikoto Uchiha's situation. She's got one son so far, Itachi, and she can only watch as her husband seems intent on making him into something frightening 'for the pride of the clan'; aka, for his own pride. She is pregnant with a second child, and, this being the ninja world, can access things that mothers in our world would be unable to. Such as, medic-nin and forbidden seals to force a child's gender.

I'll leave the rest to your imagination, though I made myself pretty clear. I don't know if such a thing is possible in the world of Naruto...but why not?

I will also be honest. I just don't like Sasuke as a guy. Bloody hell, his character pisses me off so much; when I read the scene where he fights Itachi and calls him a traitor...uh, HELLO? Earth to Uchiha, last I heard deserting your village (like your brother) and trying to kill your only real friend (almost like your brother, except _you _failed) is pretty traitorous too. Do you have the word 'hypocrite' in that special Uchiha-edited dictionary of yours, or is the only word in there 'vengeance', 'avenger', and various other related words?

....sorry. Ranted a bit there. So anyway, a teensy part of this (and if you believe that, I've got this lovely bridge to sell you. ^^) is that it's easier for me to write him into a girl AND start the conversion early on. I believe he could have been a great character. But in my story, he's going to be a girl.

Also, interestingly enough, the name Sakae? Can mean 'a small change', depending on how the first syllable is written. Or perhaps, a 'blossom of change'. Either way, I think it is entirely appropriate for a character I intend to play a major role in things.


End file.
